We are working around the clock to get as many people vaccinated against COVID-19 as quickly as possible.

Right now, more than 387,000 people in Maine have gotten their first dose of the vaccine – almost 29 percent of our total population, almost 18 percent fully vaccinated. Two out of three Maine residents 60 and older are now protected with at least one dose. And Maine is among the top states in the nation in percentage of population fully vaccinated.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

As we make progress with vaccines, and as more appointments become available and with an increase in supply in the coming weeks, it is appropriate to accelerate our vaccination timeline and make more people eligible.

This past week, Maine people age 50 and older became eligible. And in just a few weeks — on April 19^th — all Maine residents age 16 and older will be eligible for the vaccine.

While this is good news, Maine people should keep in mind that, even when they do become eligible, it might still take some time to get an appointment.

Whether you are eligible or not, you may pre-register on Maine CDC’s new pre-registration website atVaccinateME.Maine.gov.

By pre-registering, you’ll be notified about vaccine appointment options when it’s your turn.

Many vaccination sites let you pre-register with them directly too. If this is an option at the site you want to choose, you can sign up both through the vaccination site and through VaccinateME.Maine.gov.

As we expand eligibility, we are also expanding our ability to deliver shots.

We stood up large-scale vaccination sites – in Portland, Sanford, and Auburn — and they are prepared to expand their capacity to get shots into arms with the increase in the supply of vaccine we expect from the Federal government.

We expanded vaccines and vaccinations in rural and hard-to-reach communities and for Maine people who are homebound as well. Independent pharmacies and EMTS are visiting independent senior living communities to vaccinate residents on-site, and public health nurses are holding clinics throughout the state for at-risk people who cannot easily travel to large community vaccination clinics.

This week we also took the first step in our Moving Maine Forward Plan to protect public health and support Maine’s economy during the busy spring and summer tourism season.

Starting March 26^th, capacity for indoor gatherings — that is for theatres, restaurants and churches and other spaces — was increased to 50 percent. Capacity for outdoor gatherings was increased to 75 percent. Maine bars and tasting rooms were also allowed to reopen, with public health/safety precautions.

With more than a quarter of all Maine people having received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, we are making pretty good progress. But we have got to keep our foot on the gas and get more people vaccinated.

This is a race between vaccines and variants, and we don’t want the variants to invade our state and make people sick and put them in the hospital as has happened in other states.

Got to keep our foot on the gas, keep people getting vaccinated, keep people alive and healthy, and get back to normal sooner.

Summer is fast approaching and the finish line is on the horizon.

I urge all Maine people to keep doing the basic things that keep us healthy. Get a vaccine if you’re eligible. Please, don’t hesitate. It is safe. 

Together, we will get through this and get our state and our economy back on track.

In the meantime, please keep the faith and stay safe.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

More than 440,000 Maine people have now received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine — nearly a third of our entire population, with nearly 21 percent being fully vaccinated. 59 percent of Maine people 50 years old and older have received their first dose, with nearly 36 percent fully vaccinated.

I want to thank everyone who’s gotten vaccinated for taking this important step to protect themselves, their loved ones and our communities.

With the Federal government significantly increasing our supply of vaccines, we can now accelerate our timeframe.

Hello this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Starting Wednesday, April 7^th, all Maine residents age 16 and older will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. Of course only the Pfizer vaccine has been tested for individuals ages 16 and 17, and consent from a parent or legal guardian is required for that age group. But everyone else will be able to be vaccinated at any of the nearly two hundred vaccination sites across the state.

We should celebrate this progress. But to be clear, it will still take time to get appointments and to get shots into arms.

Some vaccine sites will accept appointments for eligible residents immediately, while others are staffing up and preparing to offer appointments in the coming days. Your continued patience is important.

To help make vaccines more accessible for everybody as we expand eligibility, we are allocating vaccines to providers in rural and hard to reach communities and we are continuing to expand the number of large-scale vaccination sites. 

Our Department of Health and Human Services is allocating doses also to cancer centers and dialysis centers, to Federally Qualified Health Centers, and to other providers to prioritize people who are at higher risk from COVID-19, including people with underlying medical conditions or older Maine people, or those who live in marginalized or medically underserved places in Maine.

So far, Maine is doing pretty well getting shots into arms. Right now, we are 4th best in the nation for the percentage of population with at least one dose of a vaccine, and 7th best in the nation for the percentage of population fully vaccinated.

And despite having the oldest population of any state in the nation, older people being more at risk of serious illness or death, Maine has the third lowest number of COVID-19 cases and the fourth lowest number of COVID-19 deaths per capita in the whole country, according to the US CDC. 

We’re doing well, but the pandemic is not over.

For more than a year now Maine people have cared for one another with compassion and courage, rising to the challenges of our time.

We are still in a race of the vaccinations v. the variants. And the variants are here – they are here in western Maine, they are here in southern Maine, they are spreading to every region of the state. And we see the devastating consequences in other states like Florida and Michigan. And they are more transmissible, these variants, and more dangerous. So, please, please get vaccinated and stick with the precautions that have kept us safe so far. It’s your turn. If you haven’t been vaccinated, make an appointment now. 

Keep your distance from others outside your immediate family. Remind everyone to wash their hands and wear a face covering.

Doing so will help us all stay healthy, get our economy back on track and get back to normal sooner.

For information on where to get a vaccine or pre-register to know when appointments are available, or get help traveling to and from a vaccine appointment, visit: maine.gov/covid19/vaccines. If you do not have a computer or access to the internet, call our Community Vaccination Line at 1-888-445-4111.

Again, that is 1-888-445-4111.

Together, we will get through this and get our state back on track.

For those of you celebrating Easter this Sunday, Happy Easter to you all. For those who celebrate Passover, Happy Passover to you. And for everyone, happy spring.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Our teams at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, the Maine CDC, and health care providers and volunteers around the state have been working 24/7 to get shots in arms to protect all of you from the COVID-19 virus. As a result, Maine ranks among the top states in the country for getting shots into arms.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

As of this date, almost 500,000 people have received their first shot of vaccine – more than 42 percent of Maine people age 16 and up, with more than 30 percent being fully vaccinated.

This is really good news and we should all celebrate, but of course the pandemic is not yet over. We are still in a race of vaccinations versus the variants. Look what’s going on in some other states where the variants are taking over. We’ve got to get everybody vaccinated as soon as possible. Those variants are here in Maine – they are in southern Maine, in western Maine, they are spreading to every region of the state. And they are more transmissible and more dangerous versions of this horrible virus.

So when President Biden committed to deploying federal resources to help states getting shots into arms, we took him up on his offer. This week we worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to create a groundbreaking mobile vaccination unit that will reach rural and underserved communities across Maine.

The mobile vaccination unit, only the second of its kind in New England, will begin providing COVID-19 vaccines to Maine people starting Monday, April 12 at the Oxford Casino in Oxford.

The mobile vaccination unit will then go to Windham, Biddeford, Fryeburg, Turner, Waterville, Old Town, Milbridge, Calais, Madawaska and Auburn over the next two months. And they will be vaccinating at least 250 people each day with the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

Information on scheduling appointments at the mobile vaccination unit will become available on our state vaccination website maine.gov/covid19/vaccines. Look for that in the next few days.

Maine has worked hard to stand up large-scale vaccination sites and provide vaccine to independent health care providers and to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in underserved areas, dispatching public health nurses to clinics throughout the state to meet the needs of at-risk Maine people who can’t easily travel to large-scale community vaccination clinics, and providing in-home vaccination to homebound people.

This mobile vaccination clinic is one more important tool for our state as we work to get shots into arms as fast as we can.

The clinic will complement our existing vaccination efforts very well and it will allow people in underserved communities to more easily get the vaccine so as to protect their health and their loved ones and family members and help us to win the fight against COVID-19.

I am very grateful to President Biden for his commitment to partnering with states to get people vaccinated and I’m grateful to FEMA for their outstanding work to deliver on that promise.

So to all Maine people ages 16 and up who are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine — please don’t wait to schedule your appointment. The vaccine — whether you get Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson and Johnson — is safe, effective, and it is saving lives. All of these vaccines have been through rigorous trials, approved by the FDA.

For information on where to get a vaccine visit maine.gov/covid19/vaccines. If you don’t have access to a computer or the internet, you can call our Community Vaccination Line at 1-888-445-4111.

That is 1-888-445-4111. And most health care facilities also have a referral for vaccination appointments.

Please keep the faith and stay safe. We will get through this together.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Seventeen years ago Maine people overwhelmingly voted to require the State to fund 55 percent of the cost of public education. This week, at long last, we proposed fulfilling that commitment.

Guess what? Funding education will go to two places — your kid’s classroom and your pocketbook, by helping hold down property taxes that are dedicated to local education. 

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

My administration has three strategies to spur economic recovery in the short- term and strengthen our economy in the long-term.

I announced the first strategy last week — our Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, the proposal to invest more than $1 billion in discretionary Federal relief funds under the American Rescue Plan Act. That plan supports Maine small businesses and heritage industries, it encourages new businesses and job creation, and it invests in essential and human infrastructure like broadband, affordable housing, and childcare to keep and attract young families here in Maine.

I announced the second strategy last week as well — an economic bond proposal aimed at rebuilding Maine’s transportation system – you know our roads and bridges — and conserving our land and working waterfronts.

And I announced our third strategy – our “Part Two” budget proposal this week. The “Part Two” budget builds on the earlier “Part One” biennial budget that I signed into law in March which maintained current services and provided stability to Maine people during the pandemic.

This “Part Two” Budget fully funds education for the first time in history, it gives money back to property taxpayers, and it saves a record amount for a Rainy Day.

The budget also: 

• expands access to routine dental care for low-income Maine people;
• supports hospitals, nursing, and residential care facilities who have been on the front lines of the pandemic;
• incorporates the rate increases for various MaineCare providers as recommended by an objective, comprehensive evaluation initiated by DHHS.
• increases the Maine State Grant scholarship Program to help students with college tuition;
• increases tax relief for low-income and middle-income people hard hit by the pandemic; and
• protects our drinking water by cleaning up those so called “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.

Every person in our state should be able to send their kid to a good school, regardless of their zip code; to be able to save for the future instead of just scraping by; to be able to go to the doctor or dentist when necessary; to be able to drink clean, unpolluted water and breathe clean air; and to live in a home that is affordable and not be faced with a high property tax bill driven by inflated values.

I look forward to working with the Legislature to enact, as swiftly as possible, these three strategies — the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, the bond proposal, and the “Part Two” budget — to continue Maine’s economic recovery from the pandemic and to chart long-term growth for all of our communities.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Maine’s farmers are near and dear to my heart and to my administration. You know, my grandfather was a potato farmer in Aroostook County, and he worked in the woods in the winters. 

Like most Mainers, I know, and appreciate, the hard work of our farmers and I value a little dirt under the fingernails.

I know you do too.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

This week I toured Maine Grains. It’s a gristmill opened in 2012 in a former county jail in Skowhegan, Maine. Maine Grains provides bakers, brewers, chefs, and families with locally-sourced, fresh-milled organic grains.

By sourcing grain from local farms, by milling it locally, and by partnering with local food ventures, Maine Grains is supporting the health and livelihood of farmers, it’s creating jobs, it’s improving land use, and it’s providing healthy food while serving as a successful model for thriving local economies. 

This year has been pretty tough on our agricultural community — our farmers and food processors like Maine Grains and so many in-between — but I am proud of the ways they have responded to serve the people of Maine.

Maine is home to 7,600 farms of all sizes, scales, and agricultural practices.

Before the pandemic, the agricultural community’s inadequate and aging infrastructure hindered the growth of our local food economy. Refrigeration, freezers, lack of processing plants, all of that added up.

And the pandemic only made it worse for folks when market and supply chain disruptions forced producers and processors and businesses to adapt rapidly to access different markets and distribution channels. 

In response to a recent survey, Maine farmers and food processors described these infrastructure needs. They told us that storage and processing and packaging capacity are in need.

In my Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, I propose investing $20 million of federal funds in Maine farms and processors to help them upgrade their infrastructure.

Immediate investments in Maine’s farms and food processors will support the growth and long-term sustainability of our farms and farm families, it’ll increase the supply of locally grown food, and increase Maine’s agricultural exports, boosting our economy all around. 

When we grow and raise our own healthy food, in our fields and waters, and sell it through our own shops to our neighbors and friends well, that’s a recipe for a healthy people and a healthy economy.

Our farming industry is at the heart of not only my history – it’s at the heart of our state. Federal funds from the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan are our chance to ensure that our farms can grow food that is processed and distributed here in Maine to supply local businesses and feed families, all of which is critical to our economy.

I look forward to working with the Legislature to help Maine’s farmers and food processors through the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan and to continue Maine’s economic recovery from the pandemic and chart long-term growth for all of our communities.

This Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

This Memorial Day weekend, we pause to remember the challenges our state and our nation have overcome in the past and reflect on the challenges we are overcoming today with courage as one people. 

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

These last fifteen months have been an extraordinarily difficult time for our country and for our state. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought pain, illness, unemployment, financial hardship, death and loss to many families. 

As we reflect upon these hardships, Memorial Day also causes us to remember all that we have endured, fought for and survived throughout our history. “Still,” as Maya Angelou would say, “we rise.”

Memorial Day brings respect and a sense of history as we honor those who perished to preserve our country and to protect our freedoms. When I think of those who served their country, I think of the courage they showed in the toughest of times.

Forty-six years ago was the end of the Vietnam War which sent 48,000 Maine men and women to that far-off battleground and took the lives of more than 340 people from Maine.

Sixty-eight years we ago saw the end of the Korean conflict, “the forgotten war” so called, which took the lives of more than 33,000 Americans, including at least 244 Maine soldiers.

Seventy-six years ago this month was V-E Day, the fall of the Third Reich, and, later that year, the end of the Second World War, in which 80,000 Maine people served and more than 2,000 lost their lives.

Those Mainers – and many more – served and fought with determination and great hope for our collective future. A determination and hope that I respect and hold today. 

Still, we rise.

Over the past fifteen months we’ve faced an enemy that is real, deadly but unseen, as sure a killer as any enemy we have fought in our history.

We fought this foe as a nation and as a state, not with soldiers huddled in bunkers but with social distancing, not with torpedoes but with face coverings. These have been our strange and novel armaments, our only sure ammunition against this deadly enemy. Still, we rise. We are winning this war too.

More than 70 percent of Maine people eligible have now had at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. More than half of all our people, including children not yet eligible, are fully vaccinated. Something to celebrate today. Our rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to fall. That is nation-leading progress and it is because of you, the people of Maine.

You have rolled up your sleeves to protect yourselves and the people whose names you may not even know — the people you meet on the street; people who work in the restaurant, the packing plant or the store; the nurses, doctors and folks who care for the sick; and the veteran who deserves to live the remainder of his or her heroic life with health and happiness, not to be felled by a painful contagion far from family and friends.

Boy we have faced great odds this last year, as generations of Americans have before us. Still, we rise.

We have the same hope and the same faith in the future, the same commitment to community that drove our predecessors not only to serve and survive against all odds, but to rise again, a unified people, a unified nation. 

The hope of our past and the renewed faith in our future are with us this Memorial Day weekend.

As we gather together with friends and family for the first time in such a long time, putting isolation and fear behind us, let us celebrate and show our great love for our state and our nation and for all of those who have endured so much and lost so much.

Let us honor with reverence all those who have faithfully served our state and our nation in the Armed Forces and those who gave, as President Lincoln said, ‘the last full measure of devotion’.  Still, we have not only endured, we have survived, and still we rise.

To all those who have served and to all those who continue to serve our country: our hearts are with you this Memorial Day, 2021.

God bless you. God bless the State of Maine.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

By keeping our rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths down and keeping our rate of vaccinations up, we have maintained our reputation nationally as the safest state in the country and we’ve set ourselves up for a successful summer tourism season.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

We have worked very hard over the last fifteen months to get the COVID-19 virus under control so that it is safe for everyone to return to work. Now, vaccines are widely available at more than 250 locations across the state.

And so are jobs. Employers across the state are looking to staff up for the busy summer months in particular, which means there are opportunities for everyone to work, earn a living and contribute to our state’s economic recovery. 

And the Maine Department of Labor is ready to help you.

You can find thousands of available jobs, including remote work, on the Maine Job Link at Joblink.Maine.Gov.

You can obtain counseling from a Career Center to develop your plan for getting back to work or getting the training you need for a new career. And you can obtain child care with the help of new federal funds.

Career Centers also offer virtual job fairs to connect you with employers who are looking to hire someone like you. Less than a week away on June 10^th from 2-4 p.m., Maine CareerCenters are hosting a virtual job fair featuring the Maine Registered Apprenticeship Program and many employers, for example.

More information about all of these resources can be found at Maine.Gov/Labor.

More importantly, if you’re on unemployment, you can also go back to work with substantial part time hours and still keep the $300 a week federal stipend throughout this summer.

The Department of Labor has a calculator online available on their Unemployment Insurance website where you calculate how many hours a week a person can work and still collect partial benefits and the $300 stipend. It’s a win win. I encourage you to check it out.

And keep in mind that work search requirements are tightened, meaning if you are getting unemployment benefits, you are required to actively look for work and to accept positions for which you are qualified.

If you are unemployed and you are offered a job you are qualified for and you turn it down to stay on unemployment benefits, you risk losing those very benefits.

Please do your part. Let’s get Maine back to work, we’re ready.

To succeed this summer, we need everyone working towards the same goal: getting our state and our lives back to normal.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

4^th of July – Independence Day – is rapidly approaching. A day dedicated to celebrating our precious freedoms, and after a long, difficult year such as we’ve all had, it’ll be a day to celebrate freedom and it’ll be most welcome.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

As you may know, President Biden called on all states to have delivered at least one shot of the vaccine to 70 percent of all adults by this July 4^th to celebrate our victory over this formidable enemy just as the founders of our nation celebrated our country’s victory in the battle for Independence.

Well in typical Maine fashion, we met President Biden’s goal 53 days ahead of schedule.

Today, more than 74 percent of Maine people 12 and up have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. And we are closing in on having 70 percent of all Maine adults fully vaccinated.

We rank third best among the states in the percentage of all eligible residents fully vaccinated.

Maine people are resilient, but we also rely on each other. Our nation-leading progress in beating back the pandemic and getting our state back to normal is truly due to the more than 876,000 Maine people who have already rolled up their sleeves to be vaccinated.

We should all celebrate this milestone, but hey let’s not stop there – let's keep going.

We know the best way to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community is to get vaccinated.

And unfortunately, there are dozens of people still getting very sick and who are in the hospital today, in ICU even, people who were not vaccinated against the deadly virus.

To encourage even more people to get their vaccine, I’ve announced this week the “Don’t Miss Your Shot: Vaccinationland Sweepstakes.”

Using federal funding, no state dollars, one vaccinated person will win $1 for every person vaccinated in Maine by the Fourth of July.

If the drawing were held today as I am recording this, the prize would total $876,655. A pretty good piece of change. But, for every person vaccinated between now and 6:00 a.m. on July 4, 2021, we will add another dollar to the prize. The more people vaccinated — even with one shot — the bigger the prize.

All residents of Maine age 12 and up who have received at least one dose of Moderna or Pfizer or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine since December 15^th of last year, can enter for a chance to win the prize. 

Registration is required and the deadline to get vaccinated and register is 11:59 p.m. on June 30, 2021 – about two weeks from now, or a little less. You do not have to be fully vaccinated by June 30^th to qualify, but you do have to have gotten at least one dose. 

To find a vaccination site near you, go online, visit the State’s vaccination website at maine.gov/covid19/vaccines or call the Community Vaccination Line at 1-888-445-4111.

We’ll even get you a ride to the vaccination site if you need one.

Registrations for the Sweepstakes are accepted now. You can go online again at maine.gov/covid19/vaccines for more information or again call the Community Vaccination Line at 1-888-445-4111. 

We will randomly select a winner on July 4th.

Don’t miss your shot. By getting vaccinated you could win nearly a million dollars and, with every person that gets vaccinated, a dollar more is added to the pot.

Maine people look out for each other every day, without fanfare, without fuss, and that has been especially true these last fifteen plus months.

Despite risks to yourselves, despite the adversity of our time, and through courage, compassion and perseverance, you have all helped our state survive this pandemic.

You deserve a reward for rolling up your sleeve and for proving that Maine people will always have each other’s backs. Don’t miss your shot.                                                                                                                                                                          

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Classroom learning is critical for the social and mental and academic development of our kids. With the progress we’ve made in vaccinating people, there should be no barriers to getting our kids back into the classroom full-time this fall.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Maine consistently ranks among the best states in the nation for COVID-19 vaccinations, with over 70 percent of our entire population having received at least one dose. We are making meaningful progress protecting Maine people, including those age 12 to 15 who just became eligible last month for vaccinations.

As of June 9, almost 40 percent of Maine youth of that age have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 19 percent have received final doses.

With the progress we have made in vaccinating Maine youth and containing the spread of COVID-19, we have been gradually relaxing the physical distancing requirements in schools that participate in our pooled testing programs.

Earlier this week, we announced that remaining physical distancing requirements in all schools will be relaxed next school year.

As a result, we expect every school to offer full-time, in-person learning in the fall. We also strongly encourage schools to participate in our pooled testing program to further reduce the risk of COVID-19 for students who are not yet eligible for vaccinations and to limit educational disruption due to quarantining if a student is identified as a close contact. Pooled testing allows schools to easily test many staff and students all at once and to respond quickly to any positive cases and limit the spread of the virus.

Since the fall of 2020, nearly all Maine preK-12 schools have been providing in-person instruction to students.

School administrators and teachers have worked hard all year to protect their students from the virus and to provide them with a good education and to meet so many of their other needs. By following public health and safety protocols, school staff have successfully kept the rate of COVID-19 transmission in schools lower — much lower — than the state average.

I am deeply grateful for their herculean efforts, but like most Maine people, I also worry about the children who have been left behind academically and emotionally in these last fifteen months of remote or hybrid learning. Trying to learn online with no internet or slow internet, or with a disability, or with English as your second language, or with just no one to help you at home — that’s all unbelievably hard. And parents across the state have struggled to juggle homeschooling and jobs. 

Getting our kids back into the classroom is critical to their recovery, and to ours.

This fall, with more students and school staff vaccinated and with the spread of COVID-19 slowed, every school in Maine will resume in-person, full time classroom instruction. 

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.